Saturday, October 06, 2018

Who are you?

I've seen this quote pop up a few times over the past few days, mainly  but not exclusively, on Facebook.

I read a book that blew my mind. The main character goes crazy when he realises no one really knows him.
The gist is that the person you think of as "yourself" exists only for you, and even you don't really know who that is. Every person you meet, have a relationship with or make eye contact on the street with, creates a version of "you" in their heads. You're not the same person to your mom, your dad, your siblings, than you are to your coworkers, your neighbours or your friends. There are a thousand different versions of yourself out there, in people's minds. A "you" exists in each version, and yet your "you", "yourself", isn't really a "someone" at all.

For reference, the book is "One, no one, a hundred thousand" by Luigi Pirandello. I've not read it so can't offer a recommendation or even tell you what it's about, other than it spawned this thought provoking quote.

And that got me to thinking. USHW and I have, in the past, thrown questions to each other. Not serious questions - lots of "what if" scenarios, or top lists and that kind of thing. One recent-ish (I think, I can't remember the exact timing) question was around super powers. That went on for a while. One of the mooted super powers was mind reading, and the quote above reminded me of that conversation.

It would be interesting to see how other people's perception of me differs or matches my own perception of myself.

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